GENEVA (AP) \u2014 A World Cup video review official said his hand gesture resembling a white supremacist sign was caused by an involuntary twitch, and a FIFA committee concluded the Australian didn’t breach the sport’s disciplinary code.<\/p>\n
FIFA\u2019s discrimination monitor had called for Shaun Evans to be removed from the tournament.<\/p>\n
Evans worked Germany\u2019s opening 7-1 win over Cura\u00e7ao on Sunday as an assistant to the video assistant referee, based at the World Cup broadcast center in Dallas. When the official broadcast cut before the game to show the video review officials, Evans made an \u201cOK\u201d symbol with his right hand in front of his right leg.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did not intentionally make a hand gesture or symbol to communicate a message, affiliation, game or belief of any kind,\u201d Evans said in a statement released Monday by FIFA. \u201cThe only explanation I can offer is that the movement was an involuntary, subconscious twitch and I was unaware I had done it at the time. Images taken later during the match showed that I repeated this movement many times while holding a pen between my fingers.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2019, the gesture \u2014 with thumb and forefinger touching in a circle and other fingers outstretched \u2014 was designated a hate symbol by the New York-based Anti-Defamation League.<\/p>\n
\u201cAdvice from our experts is that the gesture used clearly resembles an upside down \u2018OK\u2019 hand symbol used as a \u2018white power\u2019 symbol in global far-right circles,\u201d said the Fare network, a long-time partner of FIFA and European soccer body UEFA that monitors racist and discriminatory chants, flags and symbols at international games.<\/p>\n
\u201cClearly this official should have no further role to play in this World Cup,\u201d Fare said in its statement, describing the gesture as \u201cneo-Nazi.\u201d<\/p>\n
Evans is working at his second World Cup, and it was his first game of this year\u2019s tournament.<\/p>\n
\u201cFIFA\u2019s independent disciplinary committee can confirm that, after looking into the matter involving support video assistant referee Shaun Evans, it has found no evidence of breaches of the FIFA disciplinary code,\u201d the FIFA panel said in a statement. \u201cThe disciplinary committee has also taken note of Mr. Evans\u2019 statement.\u201d<\/p>\n
The gesture was appropriated a decade ago as a signal for white supremacy that started as a hoax on the far-right online message board 4chan.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy is a VAR supervisor using this symbol at a global football event at the very moment he knows the cameras are on him?\u201d Fare said. \u201cWe note that in the two subsequent games it appears TV directors have stopped introducing the VAR panel to the TV audience.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sign sparked global attention in March 2019 in New Zealand after it was made during the first court appearance by the white supremacist shooter who killed 51 Muslim worshippers at two mosques in Christchurch.<\/p>\n
Later in 2019 when the sign was designated as a hate symbol, Oren Segal, director of the ADL\u2019s Center on Extremism, said context is key to interpreting whether an \u201cOK\u201d symbol is hateful or harmless.<\/p>\n
At the time, he said: \u201cThere is enough of a volume of use for hateful purposes that we felt it was important to add.\u201d<\/p>\n
Evans is among 30 video review analysts selected by FIFA to work at this year\u2019s World Cup, which is being co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe coverage following this incident simply does not reflect who I am,\u201d Evans said. \u201cOf course, I understand how the gesture has been interpreted and I regret this, however I want to be very clear and categorically say that I did not knowingly or deliberately make the hand symbol suggested. Officiating at the World Cup is the biggest honor of my career and I look forward to supporting my colleagues for the rest of the tournament.\u201d<\/p>\n
Australia’s Professional Football Referees Association said it welcomed the outcome of FIFA’s review.<\/p>\n
Evans, a referee in Australia’s top-flight competition since 2012, \u201chas consistently represented the values expected of football officials: professionalism, respect and integrity,\u201d the PRFA said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe PFRA celebrates diversity across football and unequivocally rejects racism, discrimination and extremist ideology in all forms,\u201d the statement said. \u201cWe acknowledge Shaun\u2019s public statement, in which he addressed the matter directly, and we recognize the importance of fairness, context and due process when concerns are raised.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP Sports Writer John Pye in Brisbane, Australia, contributed to this report.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP World Cup: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/fifa-world-cup<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" GENEVA (AP) \u2014 A World Cup video review official said his hand gesture resembling a white supremacist sign was caused by an involuntary twitch, and a FIFA committee concluded the Australian didn’t breach the sport’s disciplinary code. FIFA\u2019s discrimination monitor had called for Shaun Evans to be removed from the tournament. Evans worked Germany\u2019s opening … Continue reading World Cup official says twitch caused gesture resembling supremacist sign; FIFA says no breach<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1452],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1515825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":true,"date":"2026-06-18 03:39:19","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[0],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1515825"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515825\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1515826,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1515825\/revisions\/1515826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1515825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1515825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1515825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}